“Overseas staff 'exploited and trapped' at UK care home”

…Employees at Prestwick Care told an undercover Panorama reporter they believed their contracts prevented them from leaving.

The BBC investigation also saw low staffing levels which health professionals said put vulnerable residents at risk…

An undercover reporter for Panorama took a job as a care assistant at Addison Court in Crawcrook… one of 15 care homes in the north-east of England owned by Prestwick Care…

Nurses and care workers ... need to be sponsored by an employer...

Concerns have been raised about the power this gives employers…

...they had also paid between £6,000 and £10,000 for their visas through a recruitment agency called BGM Consulting...

... BGM's director, Sunil Thomas, says the company has not taken any funds towards the recruitment of care workers in the UK ...

In its latest published accounts, Prestwick Care's parent company, Malhotra Care Homes Limited, made a profit of £9.3m in in the financial year 2021-22…

Prestwick Care says any suggestion that there has been systematic wrongdoing or bad practice, is unfair and inaccurate. It says that the safety and wellbeing of staff remains paramount, and that it is "fully committed to thoroughly investigating all concerns raised, and taking appropriate actions as necessary".